Conant's Raetzman rings up 4 against DGN

Downers Grove North was on the receiving end of goal-scoring explosion by Conant senior Zach Raetzman Thursday afternoon.

Raetzman provided the cutting edge in an easy 5-1 victory as he scored the first 4 goals for the Cougars -- all in the first-half -- to help his club rebound from its disappointing 3-1 loss on Tuesday in its tournament opener at the 16th annual Lancer Classic hosted by Lake Park.

"We created a lot of chances in that first half (against) Wheaton (North) and didn't finish, and we gave up 2 goals on re-starts, in addition to a sloppy (one) as well," began Raetzman. "On most nights we can score and offset a mistake or twop because we've got a strong attacking club.

"Tonight we took advantage of some early chances and didn't allow them back in."

Raetzman was pulled for a short while after striking for 3 goals in the first 18 minutes and for good after just missing his fifth at the hour mark. He combined with all-state striker Eric Marofske to score his second of the match at 11 minutes, after finding the back of the net just five minutes into the match on a helper from Paul Roszyk.

At the end of a superb buildup, junior Mike Marks burst down the flank before finding Raetzman, who would end this picture-perfect sequence to make it 3-0.

Despite trailing by 3 at the half-hour mark, North (0-2-1) continued to play hard and would cut into the Conant lead when Matthew Patterson would race in from the right side and redirect past keeper Scott Marjercik a mishandled freekick

"Give Downers credit," said assistant coach Jason Franco, who was filling in for Tony Kees on Thursday. "They didn't give up, got one back, and played hard right until the end of the match."

Marofske provided the inspiration on Raetzman's final strike of the night with a brilliant piece of individual work. It allowed the senior to get free before putting his teammate through for an easy slot past a helpless Drew Vogler, the Trojans first-half keeper.

Just moments after the break, Marofske would curl a wonderful free-kick strike around a Downers wall from just outside the box on the right side.

"We had reminded the guys that we just could not allow (No. 14, Marofske) to handle the ball in space (tonight) if we wanted to compete with Conant," said Trojans coach Brian Gervase, who with his third different lineup in as many matches is still searching for the right combination.

"Unfortunately we did, and they really took advantage of us in our own end.

"But we had some moments where we did some good things with the ball, and we may have found out that Justin (Pickering) can play well in the center-back position for us."

Next up for Conant (2-1-0) is Glenbard East at noon Saturday. Downers North takes on Wheaton North at 2:00 p.m.